BRING THE KIDS DOWNTOWN

Have you had this conversation lately with the budding litigator in your family?

“Why do we have to celebrate Father’s Day? Why do we celebrate Mother’s Day? Why isn’t there a Kids Day?”

“Every day is Kids Day.”

“No, it’s not!”

Well, okay, they may have a point. But we’d like to point out here that we do indeed have Kids Days in downtown McMinnvile, and lots of things for the precious tykes to do, especially now that school is out. Here’s a list of fun things to look forward to this summer. And the next time you have the above conversation, just wave this in their face, do a little victory dance and yell, “Snap! I told you so!”

SERENDIPITY ICE CREAM & RED FOX BAKERY
Our old-style ice-cream parlor, with an authentic, antique player piano tinkling away in the background and a case of some two-dozen hard ice-creams waiting to be dipped, is a destination unto itself for kids. Especially because there are flavors that only kids can love, like bubble-gum and cotton candy. They also have terrific soups for lunch. A block away, the Red Fox Bakery has added cupcakes, pies and cakes by the slice to its selection of treats. For a summer educational experience, you could teach your kids about croissants and macaroons, too (before moving on to the graduate-level seminar in baguettes and pain au chocolat).

MAC SPORTS
Walk into our resident sporting-goods store and you’ll be greeted by the utterly pleasant odor of leather baseball gloves, basketballs and catcher’s mitts. The store also has a huge selection of logo apparel from the area’s high schools (and if you never earned that letter jacket from Dayton High, you can buy one here and no one will be the wiser). Balls and bats and workout gear, too. A fun stop for any of the sports fans on your home team.

BROWN BAG CONCERTS AND KIDS’ DAYS AT THE FARMERS MARKET
Don’t forget the free Brown Bag concerts that are held every Thursday at noon at the U.S. Bank Plaza throughout the summer, with a range of music that the whole family can enjoy together. At the Farmers Market, which is held on Thursday afternoons on Cowls Street, there are Kids Day activities scheduled for every first Thursday of the month (through September), with crafts and an Open Mic with sound system for your budding musicians.

CITY PARK
Don’t forget our beautiful, woodsy and sprawling City Park, which begins where Third Street meets Adams, and has one of the best play structures of slides, swings and things to climb in the city. There are benches and tables for picnics, tennis courts and paths for hiking and biking. Our community swimming pool and library are also here for cool getaways on summer days.

TURKEY RAMA, July 8 & 9
And finally, our biggest summer street fair is coming up, where McMinnville celebrates its turkey-loving heritage with a two-day street festival. There will be carnival rides and games in the parking lot of Rice Furniture (next to Lowe’s) from Thursday through Saturday. Enjoy classic fair food and sidewalk sales downtown on Friday, and on Saturday check out the world’s largest turkey BBQ at Wortman Park. Saturday also offers the Cruise-In Classic Car Show on Third Street. TheTrolley will be giving free shuttle rides from the carnival to the BBQ and the downtown street fair on Saturday. Finally, be sure to load the kiddies up with sugar and caffeine (see fair food, above) so they can stay up late to dance at the free street dances downtown on Friday (The Jake Blair Band) and Saturday (The Boomer Band) from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Main Stage on Evans and Third.